In English class, we just started reading Shakespeare's Hamlet. I must admit, Shakespeare has always thrown me for a loop. I often get so caught up in the frilly language that I miss the greater themes altogether. Despite this, I'm hoping to get as much out of Hamlet as possible, as I'm well aware of its prominence as a literary work.
In my quest to understand Hamlet, I came across this blog post that touches on several key philosophical and theological questions raised in the play, and I thought I'd highlight a few points made in the post.
First of all, the blogger introduces the conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism present throughout Hamlet. She states that Laertes and France represent the purely Catholic perspective in the play, while Hamlet straddles the line between the two doctrines. In addition to these two primary Christian sects, Hamlet incorporates elements of the Greco-Roman polytheistic theologies. It's interesting to think about how these differing theologies coexist within the structure of a single work, and I'm eager to see whether these varied belief systems will eventually clash.
Throughout the play, several critical Christian themes dominate the plot, such as divine right, crusading, and purgatory. As a Catholic, I found the play's take on the concept of purgatory particularly fascinating. In class, we discussed the role of purgatory in Hamlet in relation to the ghost of King Hamlet. A Catholic interpretation of the ghost would be that he represents a soul trapped between heaven and earth, in the in-between place where sins are atoned for. The blog post sheds further light on this idea, as it claims that, in order for the ghost to be listened to, Hamlet must accept Catholicism as a religion because purgatory, a distinctly Catholic belief, is the only logical explanation for the ghost's existence. This further exacerbates the conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism.
Philosophy also shapes the course of the story. The blog post claims that Hamlet was a Stoic and goes on to outline the characteristics of the philosophic branch of Stoicism, chiefly that it involves the "relationship between cosmic determinism and human freedom, and the belief that it is virtuous to maintain a will that is in accord with nature". This adds another layer to the play. By the standards of Stoicism, which characters' actions would be considered virtuous? I aim to answer this question and many others as I continue my journey through Shakespeare's great work.
Subject: Book Recommendation
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Jasminka Maric
Title: Philosophy in Hamlet
ISBN: 978-86-900802-0-5
Publisher: Alfa BK University/author
Date of publication: 2018
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“Philosophy in ‘Hamlet’” is a revised and updated version of the master’s thesis which was successfully defended at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts of Belgrade University in 2012, as the first thesis on “Hamlet”. On the basis of the study of “Hamlet” by Lev S. Vygotsky, the book “Philosophy in ‘Hamlet’” points out the philosophical problems set in Shakespeare’s enigmatic tragedy: the problem of being, the problem of the nature of reality, or another reality and another world, the problem of the transcendent, as well as the problem of time which is associated with a four-dimensional perception of reality, feelings of absurdity and meaning, then the problem of the supernatural, idem est the metaphysical, and the philosophy expressed in the tragedy of “Hamlet”.
Reviewers: Radoslav Djokic, Professor of aesthetics: "The thesis of Jasminka Marić systematically analyzes Shakespeare's most famous play. The author rightly relies on Vygotsky's extraordinary study, in view of the compatibility of the basic assumptions of both studies. The ontological sphere is vast, if not boundless, but the author has captured with her research 'network', the most important aspects of it, in fact, those most important for Shakespeare's work. Thanks to this procedure, she has succeeded in illuminating the multi-layered structure of Shakespeare's drama, in her own authentic way."
Mirko Zurovac, Professor of aesthetics and ontology: "The basic thesis from which the author begins is that the tragedy of" Hamlet "is essentially a metaphysical tragedy and that a metaphysical discourse, rather than a philological one, is appropriate for the analysis of ontological aspects in this work of art. Moreover, she adds seven of her own poems in an appendix, and these are pervaded with metaphysical inspiration, which in a direct poetic way indicates the metaphysical passion of the author writing this important and very interesting book. "
Vladislava Gordić Petković, Professor of English literature: In her master thesis "Analysis of the ontological aspects of Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet " Jasminka Marić breaks down the layered and inexhaustibly interpretable text of the most famous drama by William Shakespeare, performing a precise and meticulous analysis of the ontological aspects of a thematically and semantically heterogeneous work. For centuries this has proved to be not only an attractive starting point for the research of critical-methodological postulates of various theories but also a rewarding area for clarifying the postulates of artistic creation. With the consistent and effective application of a valid critical theoretical matrix, the author successfully positions the philosophical and critical corpus, which in the recent history of critical thought, is still insufficiently read and studied. The study before us is not only an original contribution to the study of the philosophy of Hamlet, but it is also a successful attempt to fill empty spaces in the reception of this tragedy.
Free PDF Filozofija u Hamletu (Philosophy in Hamlet) By Jasminka D. Marić
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